Euripides Iphigenia in Tauris 658

Chorus Leader

But here come the two youths, with tightly bound hands, the new sacrifice for the goddess; silence, my friends. These first-fruits of Hellas are indeed

approaching the temple; the herdman did not deliver a false message.

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Lady Artemis, if this city carries out the rites in a way pleasing to you, accept the victims,

which the custom among us declares to be unholy.

465

Iphigenia

Enough; first, it will be my care to perform well the rites of the goddess. Unbind the strangers’ hands, so that, as holy victims, they may no longer be in chains.

Then go into the temple and make ready what is necessary and customary at the present time.

470

(Turning to the prisoners.) Ah! Who was your mother, who gave you birth, and your father? And your sister, if you happen to have one . . . such two youths as she has lost,

and will be without a brother! Who knows where such fortunes will arrive? For all the gods’ affairs creep on in darkness, and no one knows evil . . . fate leads us on towards what we cannot know.

475

Unhappy strangers, where have you come from?

For you have sailed a long time to reach this land, and you will be away from your home a long time, in the world below.

480

Orestes

Why do you lament these things, and mourn for the evils about to come upon us, lady, whoever you are? I do not think the one who is about to die wise,

if he wishes to conquer the fear of death by wailing, nor the one who laments when Hades is near and there is no hope of safety; for so he puts together two ills out of one, incurring a charge of folly and dying all the same; we must let fate alone.

485

Do not grieve for us; for we are acquainted with the sacrifices here and we know them.

490

Iphigenia

Which of you is called by the name of Pylades? I want to know this first.

Orestes

That one, if you have any pleasure in the knowledge.

Iphigenia

Of what city of Hellas were you born a citizen?

495

Orestes

What would you gain by learning this, lady?

Iphigenia

Are you brothers, from one mother?

Orestes

By friendship, yes; we are not brothers by birth, lady.

Iphigenia

What name did your father give you?

Orestes

I might rightly be called Unfortunate.

500

Iphigenia

I do not ask that; ascribe that to fortune.

Orestes

If I die unnamed, I would not be mocked at.

Iphigenia

Why do you begrudge this? Are you so proud?

Orestes

You will sacrifice my body, not my name.

Iphigenia

Can you not say what city you are from?

505

Orestes

You are seeking nothing profitable, since I am going to die.

Iphigenia

What hinders you from doing me this favor?

Orestes

The famous Argos I claim as my native land.

Iphigenia

By the gods, truly, stranger, were you born there?

Orestes

Yes, from Mycenae , which was once prosperous.

510

Iphigenia

Have you left your country as an exile, or by what fate?

Orestes

My flight is in some manner willed and unwilled.

Iphigenia

Could you then tell me something that I wish to know?

Orestes

It will be no great addition to my own misfortune.

Iphigenia

Indeed, I am so glad that you have come from Argos !

515

Orestes

I am not; but if you are, take pleasure in it.

Iphigenia

Perhaps you know Troy , whose fame is everywhere.

Orestes

Would that I did not, even seen in a dream!

Iphigenia

They say it is no more, lost to the spear.

Orestes

It is so; you have heard nothing that has not happened.

520

Iphigenia

Has Helen come back to Menelaus’ home?

Orestes

She has; it was an unfortunate arrival for one dear to me.

Iphigenia

And where is she? She deserves an ill turn from me also.

Orestes

She lives at Sparta with her former bedfellow.

Iphigenia

Creature hated by Hellas , not by me alone!

525

Orestes

I have also had some benefit from the marriage of that woman!

Iphigenia

Have the Achaeans returned, as reported?

Orestes

How you put everything together and ask me all at once!

Iphigenia

Before you die, I want to profit by your answers.

Orestes

Question me, since you desire this; I will tell you.

530

Iphigenia

Has a certain Calchas, a prophet, come back from Troy ?

Orestes

He is dead, as the story goes in Mycenae .

Iphigenia

O goddess, how good that is! What about Odysseus?

Orestes

He has not yet returned, but is alive, they say.

Iphigenia

May he die and never achieve a return to his country!

535

Orestes

Do not pray against that man; all is misery for him.

Iphigenia

But is the son of Thetis the Nereid still alive?

Orestes

He is not; his marriage at Aulis was in vain.

Iphigenia

Yes, for it was a cheat, as those who experienced it know.

Orestes

Who are you? How well you ask about Hellas !

540

Iphigenia

I am from there; while still a child I was lost.

Orestes

Then rightly you desire to know what has happened there, lady.

Iphigenia

What about the general, who is said to be happy?

Orestes

Who? The one I knew was not happy.

Iphigenia

There was said to be a certain lord, Agamemnon, son of Atreus.

545

Orestes

I do not know; leave this subject, lady.

Iphigenia

No, by the gods, but tell me, stranger, to delight me.

Orestes

The wretched man is dead, and in addition he destroyed another.

Iphigenia

Dead? By what fate? I am unhappy!

Orestes

Why do you mourn for this? It doesn’t concern you, does it?

550

Iphigenia

I grieve for his former prosperity.

Orestes

Yes, for he was dreadfully murdered by a woman.

Iphigenia

O miserable the slayer . . . and the slain!

Orestes

Stop now, and do not ask further.

Iphigenia

Only this much, if the wife of the wretched man is alive.

555

Orestes

She is not; she was killed by the son that she bore.

Iphigenia

O house thrown into confusion! What was his intent?

Orestes

To avenge on her the death of his father.

Iphigenia

Ah! How well he exacted an evil justice!

Orestes

Though he is just, he does not have good fortune from the gods.

560

Iphigenia

Did Agamemnon leave any other children in his house?

Orestes

He left one virgin daughter, Electra.

Iphigenia

What else? Is there any report of the daughter who was sacrificed?

Orestes

None, except that she is dead and does not see the light.

Iphigenia

Unhappy girl, and also the father that killed her!

565

Orestes

As a thankless favor to an evil woman, she died.

Iphigenia

Does the dead father’s son live at Argos ?

Orestes

He lives, the miserable one, both nowhere and everywhere.

Iphigenia

False dreams, farewell; after all, you were nothing.

Orestes

And those who are called wise divinities are not less false than winged dreams. These is much confusion, both in divine affairs and in human; but only this is a grief to the one who was not foolish, but trusted in the words of prophets

570

and died—as he died to those that know.

575

Chorus Leader

Ah! What about me, and my parents? Are they alive? Are they not? Who can say?

Iphigenia

Listen to me; I have come to a subject which means benefit both to you, strangers,

and to me, by your efforts. A good action is especially so, if the same matter is pleasing to all. Would you, if I should save you, go to Argos and take a report of me to my friends there, and bring a tablet,

580

which a captive wrote for me in pity? He did not think my hand murderous, but that the victims of the goddess, who holds these things just, die under the law. For I have had no one to go back to Argos with that message, who,

585

being saved, would send my letter to one of my friends. But you—if, as it seems, you are not hostile to me, and you know Mycenae and those whom I want you to know—be rescued, and have this reward, not a shameful one, safety for the sake of this small letter.

590

But let him, since the city exacts it, be the offering to the goddess, separated from you.

595

Orestes

Stranger, you have spoken all well but this: to sacrifice him would be a heavy grief to me. I am the pilot of these misfortunes,

he sailed with me for the sake of my troubles. For it is not right for me to do you a favor and get out of danger, on condition of his death. But let it happen this way: give him the letter and he will take it to to Argos , for your well-being;

600

let anyone who wishes kill me. It is most shameful for anyone to save himself by hurling his friends’ affairs into catastrophe. That man is my friend, and I wish him to live, no less than myself.

605

Iphigenia

O brave spirit! How you were born from some noble

stock, and are rightly a friend to your friends! May that one of my relatives who is left be such as you! For I am not without a brother, strangers, except in so far as I do not see him.

610

Since you wish it, I will send this man

with the tablet, and you will die; a great eagerness for this seems to possess you.

615

Orestes

Who will sacrifice me and dare such a dreadful deed ?

Iphigenia

I will; for I hold the office of this goddess.

Orestes

It is not envied, lady, and not blessed.

Iphigenia

But I am dedicated to necessity, which must be kept.

620

Orestes

Do you yourself, a woman, sacrifice men with the sword?

Iphigenia

No; but I sprinkle the holy water around your hair.

Orestes

Who is the slayer? If I may ask this.

Iphigenia

That charge belongs to those within this temple.

Orestes

What sort of tomb will receive me, when I die?

625

Iphigenia

The sacred fire within and the wide hollow of a cave.

Orestes

Ah! Would that my sister’s hand might lay out my body!

Iphigenia

You have prayed in vain, unhappy youth, whoever you are; for she lives far from a barbarian land.

Yet indeed, since you happen to be an Argive , I too will not leave out any favor that I can do. I will set much ornament on the tomb and quench your body with yellow oil, and throw onto your funeral pyre the gleaming honey, that streams from flowers,

630

of the tawny mountain bee.

635

But I will go and bring the tablet from the temple of the goddess; take care not to bear me ill-will.

Guard them, attendants, without chains. Perhaps I will send unexpected news to one of my friends,

whom I especially love, in Argos ; and the tablet, in telling him that those whom he thought dead are alive, will report a joy that can be believed. Exit Iphigenia.

640

Chorus

(to Orestes.) I raise a lament for you; the drops from the holy water,

mingled with blood, will soon take you into their care.

645

Orestes

This is not a case for pity, but farewell, strangers.

Chorus

(to Pylades.) We honor you, young man, for your happy fate, because you will tread on your native land some day.

Pylades

An unenviable fate indeed for a friend, when his friend is to die.

650

Chorus

O cruel mission!

Ah, ah! You are destroyed! Alas, alas! Which is better?

For still my mind disputes a double argument, shall I mourn for you or rather for you.

655

Orestes

By the gods, Pylades, do you feel the same thing I do?

Pylades

I do not know; I have no reply to your question.

Orestes

Who is the girl? How like a Hellene she questioned me about the labors in Ilium and the return of the Achaeans, and Calchas, wise in omens, and Achilles’ name; and how she pitied the wretched Agamemnon, and asked me about

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his wife and children! This stranger is an Argive by race, and from that land; or she would not be sending the tablet and examining these things, as if she had some share in Argos ’ prosperity.

665

Pylades

You are not much ahead of me: I was about to say the same things you said,

except this: all who move about in the world know what happens to kings. But I have arrived at another consideration.

670

Orestes

What is it? Share it with me so that you may know better.

Pylades

It is shameful for me to live when you are dead;

I sailed together with you, and I ought to die together with you. For I will seem a coward and base in Argos and Phocis of the many mountain folds. Most will think—for most people are base—that I betrayed you and saved myself to come home alone,

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or I plotted your death, in the afflictions of your house, for the sake of your kingdom, since I married your sister and heiress. I fear these things and I am ashamed; and I must breathe my last with you,

680

be slaughtered with you and consumed on the pyre; because I am your friend and I fear reproach.

685

Orestes

Hush! I must bear my own ills, and when the grief is single, I will not bear it double. What you call vile and infamous,

would be mine, if I cause you, who have toiled with me, to die; for it is not a hardship for me, suffering as I do at the hands of the gods, to give up my life. But you are prosperous, and you have a house that is pure, not afflicted, while mine is impious and unfortunate.

690

If you are saved and get sons from my sister, whom I gave to you for wife, my name would remain and the whole house of my father would not be wiped out in childlessness. But go, and live, and dwell in my father’s house.

695

And when you come to Hellas and to Argos of the horses, I charge you, by this right hand: heap up a tomb and build a memorial for me, and let my sister give her hair and tears to the tomb. Report that I died at the hand of an Argive

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woman, at an altar, purified for death. Do not ever betray my sister, when you see how lonely is my father’s house that you have joined by marriage. And now farewell; I have found you the dearest of my friends, you who have hunted with me, grown up with me,

705

and borne with me many miseries. Phoebus, though a prophet, has deceived me; creating his plot, he drove me far away from Hellas , ashamed of his earlier prophecies. I gave him my all and trusted in his words,

710

killed my mother, and myself perish in turn.

715

Pylades

You will have a tomb, and I will never betray your sister’s bed, unhappy youth, since I will hold you dearer when dead than when alive. But the prophecy of the god has not destroyed you yet;

although you stand near to slaughter. Great misfortune can offer great reversals, when it is fated; it can indeed.

720

Orestes

Silence; the words of Phoebus are no benefit to me; here comes the woman out of the temple.

Iphigenia

(to the guard.) Go away and make the preparations within for those who attend to the sacrifice.

725

Here are the many folds of the tablet, strangers. Hear what I want in addition. No man is the same when he is in troubles

and when he falls out of fear into courage. I am afraid that when the one who is going to take this tablet to Argos leaves this land, he will put aside my letter as worth nothing.

730

Orestes

What do you want, then? What are you perplexed about?

Iphigenia

Let him give me an oath that he will convey this letter to Argos , to the friends to whom I wish to send it.

735

Orestes

And will you give in return the same words to him?

Iphigenia

To do what, or refrain from doing? Tell me.

Orestes

To send him from this barbarous land alive.

Iphigenia

What you say is right; how else could he deliver it?

740

Orestes

Will the king agree to this?

Iphigenia

Yes. I will persuade the king, and I myself will put this man on the ship.

Orestes

(to Pylades.) Swear; begin a pious oath.

Iphigenia

(to Pylades.) You must say: I will give this to your friends.

Pylades

I will give this letter to your friends.

745

Iphigenia

And I will see you safely outside the dark rocks.

Pylades

What god do you do you swear by, as witness to your oath?

Iphigenia

Artemis, in whose temple I hold office.

Pylades

And I swear by the king of heaven, revered Zeus.

Iphigenia

But if you leave off your oath, and wrong me?

750

Pylades

May I not return. What about you, if you do not save me?

Iphigenia

May I never set foot in Argos alive.

Pylades

Now listen to a consideration we have passed over.

Iphigenia

But it will be something new, if it is good.

Pylades

Give me this exception: if the ship suffers and the tablet is lost with its cargo in the waves, and I rescue myself only, may this oath not hinder me.

755

Iphigenia

Do you know what I will do? For many attempts hit many targets.

I will tell you what is written in the folds of this tablet for you to report to my friends. For this is secure: if you preserve the writing, itself, though silent, will speak its message; if the writing is lost in the sea,

760

when you save yourself, you will save my words.

765

Pylades

You have spoken well, on behalf of the gods and me. Make clear to whom I must bring this letter in Argos , and what I must say when I have heard it from you.

Iphigenia

Report to Orestes, the son of Agamemnon:

the one slain at Aulis sends you this, Iphigenia, who is alive, though no longer alive to those there—

770

Orestes

Where is she? Has she come back from the dead??

Iphigenia

The one you are looking at; don’t confuse me by your talk. Bring me to Argos , my brother, before I die.

Take me away from the barbarian land and the sacrifices of the goddess, where I hold the office of killing foreigners.

775

Orestes

Pylades, what shall I say? Where have we found ourselves?

Iphigenia

Or I will be a curse to your house.

Pylades

Orestes?

¹

Iphigenia

(stopping to address Pylades.) So that you may know the name, hearing it twice.

Pylades

O gods!

780

Iphigenia

Why do you invoke the gods in my affairs?

Pylades

No reason; finish your words; my thoughts were elsewhere. Perhaps, if I question you, I will not arrive at things I cannot believe.

Iphigenia

Tell him that Artemis saved me, by giving a deer in exchange for me; my father sacrificed it,

thinking that he drove the sword sharply into me; and she settled me in this land. This is my letter, this is the writing in the tablet.

785

Pylades

You have bound me with an easy oath, and sworn very well. I will not take much time

to carry out the oath I swore.

790

See, Orestes, I bring you a tablet from your sister here, and give it to you.

Orestes

I do receive it, but first I will pass over the letter’s folds to take a joy that is not in words.

(Approaching to embrace Iphigenia.) My dearest sister, with what astonishment and delight I hold you in my unbelieving arms, after learning these marvels!

795

Chorus Leader

Stranger, you are wrongly defiling the attendant of the goddess, by putting your hands on her robe that should not be touched.

Orestes

My own sister, born from my father Agamemnon, do not turn away from me, when you hold your brother and thought you never would!

800

Iphigenia

You are my brother? Stop this talk! He is well known in Argos and Nauplia .

Orestes

Unhappy girl, your brother is not there.

805

Iphigenia

But did Tyndareus’ daughter, the Spartan, give birth to you?

Orestes

Yes, and my father was Pelops’ grandson.

Iphigenia

What are you saying? Do you have some proof of this for me?

Orestes

I do; ask me something about our father’s home.

Iphigenia

Well, it is for you to speak, for me to learn.

810

Orestes

I will say first what I have heard from Electra. Do you know of the strife that was between Atreus and Thyestes?

Iphigenia

I have heard of it; the quarrel concerned a golden ram.

Orestes

Did you not weave these things in a fine-textured web?

Iphigenia

O dearest, you are bending your course near to my heart!

815

Orestes

And the image of the sun in the middle of the loom?

Iphigenia

I wove that shape also, in fine threads.

Orestes

And you received a ceremonial bath from your mother, for Aulis ?

Iphigenia

I know; for no happy marriage has taken that memory from me.

Orestes

What about this? You gave locks of your hair to be brought to your mother?

820

Iphigenia

As a memorial, in place of my body, in the tomb.

Orestes

What I myself have seen, I will say for proof: an old spear of Pelops, in my father’s house, which he brandished in his hand when he won Hippodamia,

the maiden of Pisa , and killed Oenomaus; it was hung up in your rooms.

825

Iphigenia

O dearest, for you are my dearest, none other, I have you, Orestes,

far from our country of Argos , my darling.

830

Orestes

And I have you, who were thought to be dead. Tears, and laments mixed with joy, fill your eyes and also mine.

Iphigenia

I left you still a baby,

young in the arms of your nurse, young in the house. O my soul, you have been more fortunate than words can say.

835

I have come upon things that are beyond wonder, far from speech.

840

Orestes

For the rest of time, may we be fortunate with each other!

Iphigenia

O my friends, I have found an extraordinary joy; I am afraid that he will fly from my hands into the air.

O Cyclopean hearths; o my country, dear Mycenae , I thank you for his life, for his nourishment, because you brought up this light of the house, my brother.

845

Orestes

We are fortunate in our family, but in our circumstances, my sister, we were born to be unfortunate in life.

850

Iphigenia

I was unhappy, I know, when my wretched father put the sword to my throat.

Orestes

Alas! Though I was not present, I seem to see you there.

855

Iphigenia

O brother, when I was brought, not a bride, to the treacherous bed of Achilles;

but beside the altar there were tears and wails. Alas for the libations there!

860

Orestes

I also mourned for the daring act of our father.

Iphigenia

Fatherless was the fate I received, fatherless.

One thing comes from another, by divine fortune.

865

Orestes

Yes, if you had killed your brother, unhappy one!

Iphigenia

O wretched, in my dreadful daring!

How dreadful were the things I endured, alas, my brother! By only a little you escaped an unholy death, slain by my hands. But how will these things end? What fortune will assist me?

870

What way will I find to send you from this city, from slaughter, to your native Argos ,

875

before the sword draws near to your blood? This is your business, unhappy soul, to find out. On the dry land, not in a ship?

880

But if you go on foot, through trackless paths and barbarian tribes, you will draw near to death.

885

But through the dark rocks of the narrow passage is a long way for flight by ship.

890

I am unhappy, unhappy!

Who, either god or mortal or something unexpected, might accomplish a way that is no way, and reveal a release from troubles for the only two children of the house of Atreus?

895

Chorus Leader

It is marvelous and surpasses a fable, this event that I myself have have seen and shall relate, not as hearsay.

900

Pylades

When friends come into the sight of friends, Orestes, it is reasonable to embrace; but we must leave off wailing and turn to other matters:

how we shall get the glorious name of safety and leave the foreign land. For wise men take opportunities, and do not overstep their fate to get other pleasures.

905

Orestes

Well said; but I think fortune will take care

of that with us; when one is eager, divine strength is likely to be greater.

910

Iphigenia

(to Pylades.) Let nothing hold me back; nor will it prevent me speaking before I first find out Electra’s fate, for you are all dear to me.

Orestes

She lives with this man, (pointing to Pylades) and has a happy life.

915

Iphigenia

What country is he from, and who is his father?

Orestes

Strophius of Phocis is the name of his father.

Iphigenia

He is related to me, by the daughter of Atreus?

Orestes

He is a cousin, and my only true friend.

Iphigenia

He was not born when my father tried to kill me.

920

Orestes

He was not; for Strophius was childless for some time.

Iphigenia

Welcome, husband of my sister!

Orestes

And also my savior, not only a relation.

Iphigenia

But how did you dare that dreadful deed with our mother?

Orestes

Let us be silent on that; I was avenging my father.

925

Iphigenia

What reason did she have to kill her husband?

Orestes

Let our mother’s affairs be; nor is it good for you to hear.

Iphigenia

I am silent; does Argos now look to you?

Orestes

Menelaus rules there; I am an exile from my country

Iphigenia

Our uncle has surely not maltreated our afflicted house, has he?

930

Orestes

No, but fear of the Furies drives me out of the land.

Iphigenia

That was the madness that they reported there on the shore?

Orestes

That was not the first time that I was seen to be wretched.

Iphigenia

I know; the goddesses were driving you for the sake of your mother.

Orestes

So as to put a bloody bit in my mouth.

935

Iphigenia

Why have you made a journey to this land?

Orestes

I have come at the commands of Phoebus’ oracles.

Iphigenia

To do what? Can you speak of it, or must you be silent?

Orestes

I will tell you; this is the beginning of my many troubles.

When my mother’s evil deeds, that I cannot speak of, came into my hands, I was driven to flight by the Furies’ pursuit; then Loxias sent me to Athens , to stand trial with the goddesses who may not be named.

940

For there is a holy tribunal there, which Zeus once established for Ares, when his hands were stained with blood-pollution. I came there . . . at first, no host would willingly take me in, as one hated by the gods; then some who felt shame offered me a table apart, as a guest,

945

themselves being under the same roof, and in silence they kept me from speaking, so that I might be apart from them in food and drink, and into each private cup they poured an equal measure of wine and had their delight.

950

And I did not think it right to blame my hosts, but I grieved in silence and seemed not to know, while I sighed deeply, that I was the murderer of my mother. I hear that my misfortunes have become a festival at Athens , and they still hold this custom

955

and the people of Pallas honor the cup that belongs to the Feast of Pitchers. When I came to the hill of Ares to stand my trial, I took one seat, and the eldest of the Furies took the other. I spoke and heard arguments on the murder of my mother,

960

and Phoebus saved me by bearing witness; Pallas counted out equal votes for me; and I went away victorious in my ordeal of blood. Some of the Furies who sat there, persuaded by the judgment, marked out a holy place for themselves beside this very tribunal;

965

but others were not persuaded by the law, and drove me always in vagabond courses until I came to the holy plain of Phoebus in turn. Stretched out before his shrine and fasting, I swore to break off my life and die there,

970

if Phoebus, who had destroyed me, did not save me. And then Phoebus cried out a golden voice from the tripod, and sent me here, to get the image Zeus hurled down, and set it up in Athena’s land. But what he marked out for my safety

975

you must help me with; for if we possess the statue of the goddess, I will be released from madness and will put you on my ship of many oars and establish you again in Mycenae . But, my beloved sister, save our father’s house and save me;

980

for so I perish and all the race of Pelops, unless we take the heavenly image of the goddess.

985

Chorus Leader

A terrible anger from the gods has boiled up against the race of Tantalus and drives them through torments.

Iphigenia

Before you came here, I was eager

to be in Argos and see you, my brother. Your wish is mine: to release you from torment, and restore our father’s afflicted house, for I am not angry at the one who killed me; it is my wish. I would set my hand free from your slaughter

990

and save our house. But I worry about concealment from the goddess and the king, when he finds the stone pedestal empty of the statue. How will I escape death? What argument will I have? But if this one thing happens all together,

995

that you take the statue and bear me away on your lovely ship, the venture is a noble one. If I am separated from this, I am lost, but you might settle your affairs well and have a safe return. Indeed, I do not shrink from it, not even if I must die

1000

to save you. No, for when a man dies and is gone from the home, he is longed for; but women are powerless.

1005

Orestes

I would not be the murderer of you as well as my mother; her blood is enough; I would rather have an equal share of life or death, in common with you.

I will bring you home, if I myself escape from here, or if I die, I will remain here with you. Listen to what I think: if Artemis were hostile to this, how could Loxias have prophesied that I would take the statue of the goddess to Pallas’ city . . .

1010

and see your face. Putting all these things together, I have hope of our return.

1015

Iphigenia

But how may we live, and take what we want? For our return home suffers from this; but the will is present.

Orestes

Could we murder the king?

1020

Iphigenia

A fearful suggestion, for foreigners to kill their host!

Orestes

But we must dare it, if it brings our safety.

Iphigenia

I could not; yet I approve your eagerness.

Orestes

What if you were to hide me secretly in the shrine?

Iphigenia

So that we might take advantage of the darkness and escape?

1025

Orestes

Yes, for the night belongs to thieves, the light to truth.

Iphigenia

There are secred guards within, who will notice us.

Orestes

Alas, we are ruined! How can we be saved?

Iphigenia

I think I have a new stratagem.

Orestes

What is it? Let me know; share your thought.

1030

Iphigenia

I will use your sorrows as my contrivance.

Orestes

Women are wonderfully good at devising crafty plans!

Iphigenia

I will say that you came from Argos after killing your mother.

Orestes

Make use of my troubles, if you gain by it.

Iphigenia

And that it is not right to sacrifice you to the goddess.

1035

Orestes

With what reason? I have a suspicion.

Iphigenia

Because you are not pure; I will frighten what is sacred.

Orestes

How does this help us to seize the statue of the goddess?

Iphigenia

I shall want to purify you in the waves of the sea—

Orestes

The image that we have sailed for is still in the temple.

1040

Iphigenia

I will say that I have washed that also, since you have touched it.

Orestes

Where? Do you mean the watery inlet of the sea?

Iphigenia

Where your ship is moored by its roped anchor.

Orestes

Will you or some other bear the image in your hands?

Iphigenia

I shall; it is holy for me alone to touch it.

1045

Orestes

But Pylades here—how will he be assigned to our labor?

Iphigenia

His hands, it will be said, are stained like yours with blood-pollution.

Orestes

Will you do all this secretly from the king, or with his knowledge?

Iphigenia

I shall persuade him; I could not hide it from him.

Orestes

Well then, my ship, with its quick stroke of oars, is at hand.

1050

Iphigenia

You must indeed take care of the rest, so that it goes well.

Orestes

We need only one thing more, that these women conceal our plans; you approach them and find persuasive words. A woman has power over pity.

The rest, perhaps—. May all turn out well!

1055

Iphigenia

My dearest friends, I look to you; I am in your hands, whether I am to succeed, or come to nothing and lose my country, and my dear brother and dearest sister.

And first of all, I begin my speech with this: we are women, and have hearts naturally formed to love each other, and keep our common interests most secure. Be silent for us and assist us in our flight. It is good to have trustworthy speech.

1060

You see how one fortune holds us three, most dear to each other, either to return to our native land, or to die. If I am saved, I will bring you safe to Hellas , so that you may share my fortune. By your right hand, I entreat you, and you, and you; (addressing different members of the Chorus.) you by your dear face,

1065

by your knees, by all that is dearest to you in your home: father, mother, child, if you have children. What do you reply? Who agrees with us, or is not willing to do this—speak! For if you do not acquiesce in my words, both I and my unhappy brother must die.

1070

Chorus Leader

Have courage, dear mistress, only see to your safety; I will be silent on all that you have charged me with—great Zeus be my witness.

1075

Iphigenia

Bless you for your words, may you be happy! It is your work now, and yours, To Orestes and Pylades to enter the temple;

for soon the ruler of this land will come, inquiring if the sacrifice of the strangers has been carried out.

1080

Lady Artemis, you who saved me from my father’s slaughtering hand by the clefts of Aulis , save me now also, and these men; or through you Loxias’

prophetic voice will no longer be held true by mortals But leave this barbarian land for Athens with good will; it is not fitting for you to dwell here, when you could have so fortunate a city. Exeunt Iphigenia, Orestes, and Pylades.

1085